CHAPTER 13

Snape sat at Anastasia's bedside. She had been in this state for a week now, and there was no sign of improvement. He had tried every sleeping potion antidote he knew, but to no avail.

Dumbledore entered the room, and sat beside Snape.

'I have something you may like to see.' He said, handing him a letter. It was from Lucius Malfoy, apologising for his son's behaviour, and telling them that Draco was very sorry for what had happened.

'It seems' Dumbledore said 'that young Draco thought this would be suitable revenge for Ron Weasley getting him into trouble in his first lesson for Professor Moss. Unfortunately, for everyone concerned, he didn't seem to realise the seriousness of this act.'

Snape very much doubted the sencerity of this apology. The only thing Draco was sorry about, he thought, is that he had been caught.

'Are you alright, Severus?' Dumbledore asked, a concerned look on his face. 'You've been here all day, you really should get some rest, maybe get omething to eat?'

'Thank you for your concern, headmaster, but I am fine. I want to be here.' He looked at Anastasia's sleeping face, and then at Dumbledore. 'I want to be here when she wakes up-I must apologise to her.'

'Apologise?' Dumbledore asked 'Whatever for?'

'It's my fault that this happened. If only I hadn't made my class make the Draught...' Snape bowed his head. 'And...we rowed, that morning. I was going to apologise to her...' His voice trailed off. He didn't want to talk about it, didn't want to talk about what might have been...

Deep in sleep, Anastasia was dreaming. She could hear Severus talking. Only, she realised, it wasn't a dream, she really could hear him. She concentrated on his voice, willing herself to wake up. But then his voice faded away, and she drifted back into sleep...

Harry and Ron were in the library. They were reading everything they could on Sleeping Spells, trying desparately to find a way to wake Hermione up. Ron slumped over the table, head resting on an open book.

'This is no good, there's nothing in any of these.' He looked up at Harry. 'We'll never get her to wake up.'

'We're not giving up.' Harry replied firmly. 'Do you think Hermione would give up if it was one of us lying like that? Keep reading.'

'Huh' Ron replied. 'Knowing Hermione by now she would have read every book in the library, found an antidote and written an essay about it.' He smiled faintly. The smile was then replaced by a look of realisation.

'That's it!' He jumped up, knocking several books to the ground.

'What?' Harry looked at Ron as if he had gone mad.

'Don't you remember? Hermione was going on about that fairy tale book, and saying that the Draught was unreversable. Quick!' He pulled Harry's arm. 'We've got to get that book from Hermione's dormitory, and find out what she meant!'